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Barack Obama's Irish Roots Tom Sykes – Thu Apr 14, 11:44 pm ET
NEW YORK – Barack Obama's Irish RootsThe Irish village of Moneygall is preparing to welcome an American president whose ancestor was a native son. Obama's planned May visit has excited locals—and prompted more racial awareness, writes Tom Sykes.
The great, but generally unvocalized, astonishment of the people of Moneygall is not so much that one of their descendants is president of the United States, but that one of their descendants is black. You see, a lad going off to America and doing well for himself … well, all the folks in the pub drinking their pints of Guinness can get their heads around that story; sure, wasn't JFK the most famous Irishman of all?
But a black man? From Moneygall? What?
Moneygall, a very, very small village on the edge of a very, very large Irish bog, is the hometown of Barack Obama's great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Kearney, an Irish wigmaker who emigrated to Ohio in 1849. As such, it will host the president when he makes a stop during his visit to Ireland in May.
After a bit of bemused head-scratching when the genealogical breakthrough was made by a parish priest during Obama's battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, the news has now been digested and processed by the collective consciousness of Moneygall, population 299.
So when (not if) the subject of "O'Bama" comes up at Ollie Hayes's stars and stripes-festooned saloon—Ollie's has been declared Obama HQ by the media because the Kearney family home was located out the back, and Obama's 24-year-old ninth cousin, Henry Healy, a plumber, drinks there—and you start to say, "But how come…" they cut you off right away, and explain patiently that Obama is "mixed race" and his mother's side are Irish and his father's side are Kenyan, and this is why the president is dark-skinned.
"People didn't really relate to the idea of a black president having Irish roots."
But the fact remains: Moneygall is very, very white. There are no black people living in the village, although there is a "very nice Indian family" living in the housing estate outside town. But Moneygall is not unusual in that respect; rural Ireland is very, very white. The 2006 census showed that just 1.06 percent of Irish citizens are black, and outside major city centers, black people are still a rarity. In the countryside, the presence of black people is usually commented on. Inadvertent racism pervades conversation and society, both polite and impolite. Mixed-race people, for example, are often referred to as "half-castes" or "half-and-halfs."
A university-educated, professional friend of mine who was going to stay with an Irish friend in London who is married to a black woman recently told me he was due to visit "Mandela Hall." It's not malicious (usually), just naivete and a lack of familiarity, awareness, and education. But still, you don't quite know where to look.
You might expect the Irish to be a bit more sensitive. They are far from unfamiliar with prejudice themselves. Generations of Irish emigrants saw signs in the windows of London hotels reading, "No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs."
Moneygall itself has been through an accelerated racial-awareness program since the news of Obama's heritage broke. You hear more people using the words "mixed-race" than "half-caste" here. But the village was unusually well-prepared compared with most of rural Ireland for the extraordinary news that one of their descendants was black, for, back in the 1930s, another black man lived in Moneygall.
His name was Joe Kelly, and he lived at the local big house, Ballintemple, which is located directly opposite the Anglican church where Obama's ancestors worshipped, married, and christened their children, and where the records identifying Obama's heritage were found. Ballintemple was occupied by a family of farmers called Burris until around 1930, when it was sold to the grandparents of the current owner, Henry Hogg.
"We still call his old room 'Joe Kelly's room,'" Hogg says. "Children from orphanages were basically handed out to families, and Joe Kelly was taken in by Mrs. Burris. When the house was sold the family 'inherited' Joe Kelly. He came with the house. It was where he had always lived, so he wouldn't actually have had anywhere else to go. My uncle later told me that his mother was a prostitute in Dublin. He was a houseboy for Mrs. Burris and then he was a houseboy for my grandmother. He used to go into Cloghjordan (a nearby town) at the weekends and go to the pub and so on.
"Then, one day in 1942," Hogg continues, "he went into town and never came back. He disappeared. My grandmother was very concerned about him and asked after him, to try and find out what had happened, and she was told he had been seen getting on the train to Dublin. We think he might have joined the army and been killed in the war.
"But, still, when I came back to Ballintemple in the 1980s, my uncles had left his old room completely undisturbed, on the expectation that he might some day come back. This was the only home he ever had. The room was left exactly as it was. I finally cleared out Joe Kelly's room about 10 years ago when we refurbished the house. His clothes were still hanging in the cupboards."
Were people shocked when they discovered that Obama is of direct Irish heritage?
"Shocked would be the wrong word, but people were highly surprised, because of his skin color," Hogg says. "People didn't really relate to the idea of a black president having Irish roots. But when they looked at it, and saw that Obama's mother is white, and his father is Kenyan, then they understood it. A marriage like that is quite normal in America, but it would be highly unusual here.
"Now, of course, people in the village think it is a huge honor to host an American president. The only concern now is whether they will actually get the opportunity to meet him. Because of the level of security, it is obviously not going to be like meeting a local politician. People are wondering how it will all work out. People really want to meet him, and shake his hand."
Indeed the preparations are gathering pace. Brendan Wright, a representative of the paint company, Dulux, who was having a drink at Ollie's, said the company is providing free paint for the whole main street to be repainted. "The people just need to choose what color they want," he told me munificently, as he drained his glass.
When the president of the United States is coming to town, it seems, you really can have any color you want.
Tom Sykes, 36, is a British writer and journalist. He was formerly nightlife reporter for the New York Post and now tries to live a largely blameless life in Ireland with his wife, two kids, three pigs, six hens, and a turkey. He is the co-author, with Detmar Blow, of Blow by BlowThe Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
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Waiting patiently for Mike et al. to come into this thread and pollute it with 'the original Irish were Black' nonsense. Waiting...
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That's the thing about being a "half-and-half". You can play both sides of the field when it suits you.
The result is that you could end up tricking both sides of the field. Historically, it's the black side that get's played--one way or another.
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So unfamiliar with anyones other than whites like themselves this story is told of a first encounter with a "smoked Irish," i.e., blackman in Barbados.
A newly arrived Irishman meeting a Bajan blackman asked for directions. On hearing the man's brogue the Irish took him for a landsman. He asked him how long he had been on the island. The Bajan said he had been there a year. "Only one year?" gasped the Irish. ""Begorra, and ye have turned so black and ugly. Oi'll be gittin back to the ould country." He left on the next boat.
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^ You would think modern Egyptians have done that already since they are so mixed (indigenous blacks with every other group that invaded them), but no. Egypt like the rest of North Africa is a one way streak, they claim the non-black heritage while despising the black heritage. Strangely they are proud of the phraonic civilization their black ancestors created. It is perfect example of identity schizophrenia.
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quote:So unfamiliar with anyones other than whites like themselves this story is told of a first encounter with a "smoked Irish," i.e., blackman in Barbados.
This kind of thing cuts many ways: Blacks in the Nigerian Delta area on first seeing whites--just ran away. Later when they saw up close they thought that they were "peeled people" whose skin had been peeled of.
Similarly for the Chinese on their first encounter with "hairy foreign devils" with big noses. They were referring to the whites, of course.
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quote:Originally posted by Confirming Truth: Waiting patiently for Mike et al. to come into this thread and pollute it with 'the original Irish were Black' nonsense. Waiting...
Wait no Muurs :
The African Roots of Ireland
The Fomorians
There are many oblique references to the presence of Black people in ancient Ireland. Ancient Irish mythology refers to the original inhabitants of the island as being a giant, sea-faring people called the Fomorians (Fomors), which means “dark of the sea”. According to the ancient lore, they were a cushitic people from the African continent. Often depicted as demons, they defeated the first few incoming waves of invaders, but could not defeat the Firbolgs, who settled the land and lived side-by-side with the native Fomors.
Those myths may have a factual historical basis. It is proposed that the Formorians were a real people who were in all likelihood sailors from the African continent.
Two more invasions, the first led by the godly Tuatha de Danaan, and the second by the Celtic Milesians, took control of Ireland, mixing together with the Fomorians until they were no more.
There are credible sources for the African association with Ireland. The most likely of these is that they were Phoenicians and/or Egyptians. The Phoenicians were Canaanites, which came from the line of Ham. Ham is the mythological ancestor of the Black nation.
The Phoenicians were also well-known for their sailing skills, and are said to have traveled to the British Isles, which they called the “Tin Islands”. Perhaps, before Ireland was a Celtic domain, which it wasn’t until a few centuries BCE, the Phoenicians colonized it. It is noteworthy that the name Fomorians sounds a bit like Phoenicians.
There is also a legend that an Egyptian princess, Scota, left Egypt with some followers and journeyed to Ireland. Legend has it that Egyptians left many ancient tin mines all over Britain but especially Ireland which was their major source of the valuable metal.
Another idea is that they were Taureg Berbers. The Berber language is Hamitic, and the Berber people live in an area from which travel to Ireland would be easily accessible. The Berbers perhaps set sail from western Morocco, and settled on Ireland before the Celts, making it their new home.
Moorish Science Temple founder Drew Ali teaches that Ireland was once part of a Moorish empire, and that the Irish are a Moorish people. Perhaps there is a common root between the “moor” sound in Fomor and the word Moor?
Selkies and Half-Breeds
Another Irish legend tells of the Selkies, a sort-of “wereseal” that is a seal during day, but a human by nightfall. Sometimes, in an Irish family of fair-skinned, light-haired people, a child is born with dark hair eyes, and skin, and is called a Selkie.
The concept of the Selkies appears to make subliminal reference to the half-breed children that resulted from the extensive miscegenation that occurred between the Celts and the dark skinned original inhabitants that they had met upon their arrival in Ireland.
Many people of Irish descent have distant and recent African roots, and these features can still be seen in the people and in the culture. There are some Irish people with Afros (just like Andre the Giant a late continental European wrestler with afro-hair). In Southern Ireland, some people, referred to as “Black Irish”, are noted for their strikingly dark features, as opposed to the fair-skinned, light-haired north.
Although many Irish descendants are particularly pale, they do have pronounced Africoid facial features, as well as dark brown eyes, and dark brown hair that is sort-of kinky, especially in moist conditions. A sub race of the Irish called the Bronn are noticeably Mediterranean (read: African) in features especially their hair.
In addition to all of this, Celtic music is distinctly different from the rest of Europe, and easily comparable to African music.
Black, Viking and Irish
Unlike Scotland and England, Ireland was never colonized by the Romans. As a result, Ireland remained relatively isolated.
The Vikings established port cities like Dublin. The Viking texts left stories and descriptions of African soldiers captured in Ireland whom they called blaumen[blue-men].
Most Viking references to ”black” in Norse would have signified having black hair as opposed to skin color but blaumen meant black skinned. Most of these blaumen were captured soliders from Moorish Spain. It was observed that:
“A prominent Viking of the eleventh century was Thorhall, who was aboard the ship that carried the early Vikings to the shores of North America. Thorhall was “the huntsman in summer, and in winter the steward of Eric the Red. He was, it is said, a large man, and strong, black, and like a giant, silent, and foul-mouthed in his speech, and always egged on Eric to the worst; he was a bad Christian.”"
“Another Viking, more notable than Thorhall, was Earl Thorfinn, “the most distinguished of all the earls in the Islands.” Thorfinn ruled over nine earldoms in Scotland and Ireland, and died at the age of seventy-five. His widow married the king of Scotland. Thorfinn was described as “one of the largest men in point of stature, and ugly, sharp featured, and somewhat tawny, and the most martial looking man… It has been related that he was the foremost of all his men.”"
What about Scotland and Wales?
“Any comprehensive account of the African presence in early Europe should include England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Scandinavia. The history and legends of Scotland confirm the existence of “purely Black people.” We see one of them in the person of Kenneth the Niger. During the tenth century Kenneth the Niger ruled over three provinces in the Scottish Highlands.
The historical and literary traditions of Wales reflect similar beliefs. According to Gwyn Jones (perhaps the world’s leading authority on the subject), to the Welsh chroniclers, “The Danes coming in by way of England and the Norwegians by way of Ireland were pretty well all black: Black Gentiles, Black Norsemen, Black Host.”"
Ogu Eji Ofo Annu
Sources: Ancient And Modern Britons, by David Mac Ritchie Nature Knows No Color-Line, by J.A. Rogers
The Greatest Black Irish: Mohammed Ali Traces his Roots to Ireland
There are many Irish of African background and there are many Africans and African Americans of Irish background. The Honourable Noble Ali Drew taught us that true Irish people could be considered a nation that was originally black and aboriginal, since that was indeed their true history, Asiatic-Africans of the European Continent.
There are many linkages, commonalites and joint heritage connecting the Irish people to the Black nation. Though many racists might chaff in their ignorance and damaged mentality, the history that connects Africa and Ireland flows like a river, from the central sahara, through Espania, on to the Ireland, the bloodmarks and the cultural traits live on.
In the discovery of the new world, and the following colonial subjugation of the world’s native people, Black Africans at home, and those in the diaspora throughout Europe, especially Ireland, were betrayed, then killed and the remnants were sold into slavery in the west.
Until the late 19th century, Irish people (I mean the real Irish natives not the settlers) were considered as black Africans stragglers, and were treated no better than any black African by the blood thirsty slaves of the defunct Holy Roman Empire/Church, called the Franks and the English.
Due to a common reality both groups faced in early America, Blacks and Irish found an early solidarity that they appear to have lost today. Yet, in the early days of European olonizaton of the Americas, the Irish simply went back into the existing Black community, which was their original roots anyhow, and blended in back again with the Negros.
Hundreds of thousands of Black Irish did live and still live in the United States and Canada.
In the Islands of the Carribean, in the south of the United states, and sometimes in the agrcultural heartlands such as Kentucky, one finds this seamless blend of the Bantus, the Mandes, the Muurs, and the Irish, who once worked the plantations together, though sometimes in oppositon, yet, always manipulated and fleeced by the slaving Franks, and the Angeles..the so-called west European whites or WASPs.
Rastalivewire has brought stories and articles on the many aspects of Black, and Irish relationship.
We have this interesting story about Muhammad Ali, the Greatest boxer known to man, a radical Black African American nationalist, who started out his days as a member of the fiery Black Muslims, also known as the Nation of Islam led by Elijah Muhammad.
Indeed, Muhammad Ali is also a Black Irish.
Ali goes to Ireland:
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali made a sentimental journey to discover his Irish roots in the little town of Innis, where he met with distant relatives during celebrations at the local town hall and a nearby castle.
He made this trip following the uncovering of his roots which go way to Africa, and on to Ireland, in the streets of Ennis.
Thousands of excited Irish people lined the streets of Ennis, western Ireland, to cheer the motorcade carrying Ali as the three-time world heavyweight champion visited the home of his great-grandfather Abe Grady.
……
Mayor Frankie Neylon presented Ali with a scroll as he proclaimed him Ennis’ first “freeman,” an honor conveying him special privileges in the County Clare town of 23,000. The mayor said the most valuable privilege would be free parking.
Free Black Woman of Kentucky (A Moorish Line of Descent):
Abe Grady settled in the U.S. state of Kentucky in the 1860s and married a free-born Black woman from the state of Kentucky. She might have been one of the descendants of the Moorish nation (so-called black Indians) of America or perhaps directly from Morocco. Moors were precluded from enslavement in slave holding America.
She might also have been the descendant of a freed African who had been previously enslaved in America. But the bottom line is that Mohammed Ali’s grandmother was living as a free citizen of the United States when she met and married immigrant Abe Grady.
One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, gave birth to Ali — then Cassius Clay — in 1942.
By 2002, genealogists had pinpointed Ali’s Irish links, but Ali was not interested initally. He never visited Ennis until now.
People traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) from across Ireland to see Ali, among them veteran Irish boxers who sparred with Ali in New York training decades ago.
Ali was later driven through the town to Turnpike Road, where his great-grandfather lived before sailing for America. He met several representatives of the Grady clan, most of them O’Gradys — the O means “son of” in the native Irish tongue.
St. Brigid, “the Mary of the Gael,” was born around 450 in Faughart, about two miles from Dundalk, in County Louth, Ireland. According to tradition, her father was a pagan named Dubthach (Black-Thach), and her mother was Brocessa, one of his slaves.
As a child, Brigid was known for her compassion for the poor. She would give away food, clothing, and even her father’s possessions. …
St. Brigid received monastic tonsure at the hands of St. Mael of Ardagh. She established a monastery on land given to her by the King of Leinster. The land was called Cill Dara (Kildare), or “the church of the oak.”
This was the beginning of women’s cenobitic monasticism in Ireland. …
quote:Originally posted by Confirming Truth: Waiting patiently for Mike et al. to come into this thread and pollute it with 'the original Irish were Black' nonsense. Waiting...
Why are you young Albino boys so stupid?
Even the biggest racist acknowledges that the first modern Humans to enter Europe: the Grimaldi African, entered Europe circa 45,000 ago at Gibraltar. Others entered Eastern Europe from the south soon after.
So even your decrepit Albino brain MUST be able to figure this one out.
The only argument is whether or not these Black Africans TURNED WHITE! That's it, that's the only question. And of course they didn't. You people are central Asian Albinos.
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In addition to all of this, Celtic music is distinctly different from the rest of Europe, and easily comparable to African music.
A white guy from work quite a few years back sent me a link to a discussion between an Irishman and a Black American blues musician. After the Irishman heard the blues music he was struck by the similarity in sounds. So they got together, did some research and confirmed it. Both of them were shocked to say the least.
I don't recall if I printed out this information or not but I'll look around and see.
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It is an open secret known to the well informed that Irish are predominantly Muurish. Noble Ali Drew taught us that we should not be deceived by their paleness today, that they are many Muurs among the Irish.
The Irish known that their origin lies in the South, beyond Spain in North Africa. They do not debate it with anyone in the know.
The Irish have many pictures of original Black Irish men and women who lived there around 5 AD to 5 BC. Saint Brigitte is one of them. Deniol of Wales is another. Even St. Patrick has a picture depicting him in dark brown skin.
Only the fools, die from want of wisdom.
Lion!
-------------------- Lionz Posts: 7419 | From: North America | Registered: Mar 2009
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It is perfect example of identity schizophrenia.
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